# Signs of Cancer Can Appear Long Before Diagnosis, Study Shows

**URL:** <https://onehack.st/t/signs-of-cancer-can-appear-long-before-diagnosis-study-shows/68673>\
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**Created:** [February 6, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/signs-of-cancer-can-appear-long-before-diagnosis-study-shows/68673 "2020-02-06T15:58:55Z")\
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**Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/signs-of-cancer-can-appear-long-before-diagnosis-study-shows/68673/1 "2020-02-06T15:58:56Z")

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Early signs of cancer can [appear years or even decades before diagnosis](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/feb/05/signs-of-cancer-can-appear-long-before-diagnosis-study-shows), according to the most comprehensive investigation to date of the genetic mutations that cause healthy cells to turn malignant. From a report:

[![](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b9add61d03bbaf2f920ebc756eb2a4f7c9e548f2/0_91_2735_1641/master/2735.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=45f202cb32c7397014f12958abca7c14) ](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b9add61d03bbaf2f920ebc756eb2a4f7c9e548f2/0_91_2735_1641/master/2735.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=45f202cb32c7397014f12958abca7c14)

_The findings, based on samples from more than 2,500 tumours and 38 cancer types, reveal a longer-than-expected window of opportunity in which patients could potentially be tested and treated at the earliest stages of the disease. The work was carried out as part of the [Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1907-7), the most comprehensive study of cancer genetics to date._

> “What’s extraordinary is how some of the genetic changes appear to have occurred many years before diagnosis, long before any other signs that a cancer may develop, and perhaps even in apparently normal tissue,” said Clemency Jolly, a co-author of the research based at the Francis Crick Institute in London.

> “Unlocking these patterns means it should now be possible to develop new diagnostic tests that pick up signs of cancer much earlier,” said Peter Van Loo, co-lead author, also of the Crick Institute. “There is a window of opportunity.”